By Courtney Quinn
Have lunch with a United States President? Check! This summer I was an administrative intern for the personal office of George W. Bush. It was a fantastic experience that I will never forget. I learned so much about the life of our 43rd President and what goes on post-presidency. The interns were very involved with Mr. Bush’s correspondence, including appreciation letters for military retirement and congratulatory acknowledgements for weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, etc. I was even in charge of maintaining the office’s main email account. Everything we worked on, whether big or small, was all significant because it represented Mr. Bush!
SMU has a great relationship with Mr. and Mrs. Bush. They have provided so many opportunities to students, especially with the addition of the George W. Bush Presidential Center on campus. I interned with other SMU students and my supervisor was even an SMU grad. There are ten staff members in the office and they were all so nice and ready to help with any of our questions. I loved getting to work with them! Mr. Bush is a very friendly and personable boss. He always stops into his staff’s offices and catches up and he even introduced himself to the interns on our first day at work! At the end of the summer, all the interns were invited to have lunch with Mr. Bush. It was very cool getting to personally talk with a former U.S. President and ask him anything we wanted to. He answered every question we had ranging from politics to his family to his hobbies; he had the whole room laughing the entire time. I gained so much knowledge this summer that will be very beneficial to my future career path. Throughout my past three years, SMU has provided so many amazing opportunities and I can’t wait to see what my last year has in store!